Eleven days before going before Town Meeting voters — and needing to chip away at a deficit of $436,306 — the Somerset School Committee on Thursday night proposed several places to find funds: • From this year’s fiscal 2014 budget. • From families of s...

Eleven days before going before Town Meeting voters — and needing to chip away at a deficit of $436,306 — the Somerset School Committee on Thursday night proposed several places to find funds:

• From this year’s fiscal 2014 budget.

• From families of student-athletes, musicians and preschool children.

• And a big chunk by negotiating with the Board of Selectmen for reimbursements that come from school expenses and wind up in the general fund.

The latter category stemmed from state reimbursements last year of at least $100,000 in Medicaid and about $40,000 in transportation for students of homeless families, Director of Business and Finance Marc Furtado said.

“The town is going to receive those funds,” Superintendent Richard Medeiros said, stating the need to negotiate with the Board of Selectmen on how to account for those funds in the school budget.

Those two lead administrators and School Committee Chairman Robert Camara and Vice Chairman Jamison Souza have been working as a research and advisory committee to identify how to resolve two large budget shortfalls in fiscal 2013: $299,001 in operating funds and $137,304 in the school lunch account.

Even with the reimbursements, the $350,000 of listed items falls nearly $90,000 short of the closing deficit.

No decisions were reached, and the committee is ready to meet again Saturday morning from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at North Elementary School to review support data requested by committee members Victor Machado and Lori Rothwell. A third possible budget workshop could be held Monday night before the committee is scheduled to meet with the Finance and Advisory Committee to support their recommendations.

Three articles on the Oct. 28 special Town Meeting warrant require a majority vote to reduce this year’s fiscal 2014 appropriation from $18.2 million to $17.8 million, then nine-tenths votes to pay nearly $300,000 of unpaid bills and to reimburse the school lunch program that ran $137,000 in the red.

With about 30 people, including a half-dozen student-athletes, listening intently during two hours of sharp debate, Furtado reviewed eight recommendations their committee listed to cut, adjust or negotiate.

Instituting user fees for winter and spring sports — boys’ and girls’ basketball, cheerleading, baseball and softball — would generate $20,000 with a $75 fee for 80 students. Such a change to fall sports would bring in another $30,000, but they’re already underway.

Charging 110 students $100 a year to take string instrument lessons during the school day would reap only $13,000.

Medeiros said the amounts were based on user fees in Berkley.

Some cutting of buses would generate $75,000 — the elimination of two remaining late buses and one at the elementary level that Medeiros said the district could handle because of some “double runs” that could be done more efficiently.

They’d also eliminate the K-8 music/fine arts director, banking on the regional school district picking up $30,000. A cut of $50,000 could be found in informational technology hardware savings.

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Another hardship for some families would be to as much as double the monthly fees paid for preschool tuition for children ages 3 to 5 to attend their program.

The justification would be moving to “fairer and more equitable fees,” officials said.

That’s because the highest cost for the five-day/half-day program is $100 a month, which half the families pay, the rest less.

With $300,000 in annual staff salaries for the highly regarded program, Medeiros recommended they institute a fee change Jan. 1 to give families time to adjust. Furtado said the range would go to $200 a month to save $22,000 in a half-year.

“This captures some of the things we’ve tried to do to get to the bottom line,” Camara said after an hour’s presentation that also focused on other financial challenges and successes.

But the next hour’s discussion — before citizen comment began about 9 p.m. — was heated.

After Medeiros said “no definite decisions” needed to be made at this meeting, Rothwell and Machado took strong objection.

“We need to make decisions before the Town Meeting,” said Rothwell, saying she was not happy with a “fluid plan” that doesn’t cut the full amount.

She questioned Medeiros and Furtado on whether they had found efficiencies in this year’s budget to cut or simply transferred costs to taxpayers and parents.

“I thought we were going to have a vote. I thought we were going to have a discussions with the principals,” Machado said, initially telling the subcommittee they did their work “in a vacuum.”

He called the $436,000 deficit the “only solid number.”

He also criticized the $140,000 reimbursement sought, saying, “I don’t think our selectmen are going to work with us.”

“The numbers are there. Ultimately, it will be the town voters that make the determination,” Medeiros said, adding, “We can look at more options.”

Committee member Donald Rebello, a principal in Rhode Island, referred to the list of items, and said, “Come up with your best 10 that you think will be less painful.” He said they “could have 1,000 workshops” and people would disagree on the best way to do it.

Souza said activity user fees were inevitable in the schools but said it was wrong to institute them midyear. He said he believes the town should use its stabilization fund to pay the $137,000 for the school lunch offset.